Tampa Bay Rays' Joe Maddon Continues To Show Why He's the Best Manager In AL

By John Raffel

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Joe Maddon is currently pitting his Tampa Bay Rays against the New York Yankees, and the current success he’s having with a team that has one of the lowest payrolls in baseball makes everyone wonder what he would do with an organization like the Yankees.

Maddon probably wouldn’t take the Yankees job if it was offered to him unless various circumstances made it impossible for him to turn it down. He seems more comfortable working with a team not expected to do much rather than a squad with high-salaried players and with all sorts of high expectations.

Maddon is the type of manager who loves developing young players and seeing how successful they can be over the course of the season. His players know their roles and accept them. He may not be the manager of the year this season, but he is establishing himself as the best manager in the AL in the last five years.

It was enough of an astounding feat for Madden to take the 2008 team to the World Series a year after they had the worst record in MLB, but he continues to keep the team highly competitive in the AL’s toughest division. Keeping the team in title contention again this season just shows that Maddon was never a one-season wonder.

Maddon has had success over the years with excellent defense and pitching, plus timely hitting. That’s been the case again this season. The Rays continue to find the talent to be around when October arrives. Even when the team failed to make the playoffs last year for the first time since 2009. they still had a 90-72 record.

The Boston Red Soxwere the big story in the division, going from fifth to first, but the Rays keep hanging around and enjoy their own brand of success.